Godzilla Vs. Kong: 20 WTF Moments
15. That Hilarious Die Hard Reference
The first showdown between Godzilla and Kong takes place when Kong is being transported across the sea on a barge, and ends with Kong getting his ass summarily kicked by his natural foe.
But the scene features a highly amusing and most unexpected reference to one of the greatest action movies of all time - John McTiernan's Die Hard.
When Godzilla uses his atomic breath to annihilate the barge, Kong leaps clear just in time, almost exactly mirroring John McClane's (Bruce Willis) iconic leap from the explosion atop Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard.
In a recent interview director Adam Wingard confirmed the reference was intentional, and that he designed Kong to mirror the archetypal, against-the-odds '80s action hero:
"Godzilla is way more powerful than [Kong]. And then on top of that, we've put Kong on the ocean. This is Godzilla's element. So the stakes and the danger level are already high for this character, but then you want to amplify that. And the inspiration for that really comes from Die Hard more than anything. That’s why the movie has a Die Hard reference here and there from a visual standpoint."